Drivers and barriers towards healthy and environmentally friendly eating habits in Switzerland

Food consumption in Switzerland is the activity with the largest environmental impact, which also contributes significantly to rising health costs. Therefore, it is a crucial societal aim to better understand the drivers and barriers to healthy and sustainable diets. To do so, we conducted an online household survey in Switzerland and collected 620 responses. Based on dietary habits that people reported, we calculated the kg C02 equivalent for the individuals’ diets as a measure for environmental impact. As measure for health impacts, we calculated the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) associated with individual level diets. Structural equation modeling showed that the intentions to eat healthy are more pronounced and better transmit into behavior than environmentally friendly eating. In contrast the intention to eat environmentally friendly is less pronounced and does almost not result in environmental friendlier eating habits. This suggest that healthy eating is of higher priority to consumers and firmer executed than environmentally friendly eating. Furthermore, we use regression models to explore the factors fostering intentions, behavior, and the gap between. We find that female, age, vegetarian diets, stable relationship, contribute positively to dietary habits. Surprisingly, neither education nor income lead to stronger intentions or healthier or more sustainable food choices. In contrast, people living in cities and in the German speaking part of Switzerland have strong intentions that do not transmit into behavior. This suggests that healthy and sustainable eating in Switzerland is not determined by socio-economic status, but rather by regional cultures and corresponding eating habits.

Drivers and Barriers Toward Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Eating in Switzerland: Linking Impacts to Intentions and Practices

Ivo Philippe Baur, Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ralph Hansmann

Food consumption is among the activities with the most significant environmental impacts, and furthermore contributes to rising health costs. We explored the factors that foster or hinder healthy and sustainable eating in Switzerland. Based on an online household survey with 620 respondents, we first determined the disability adjusted life years and greenhouse gas impacts associated with individuals' dietary habits to measure healthy and environmentally sustainable eating. We then relate the nutritional health and environmental impacts to individual's intentions, and explore what interpersonal and societal factors foster or hinder healthy and sustainable eating. Results suggest that intentions for healthy eating are stronger than intentions to eat environmentally sustainable and that intentions for healthy eating transmit better into behavior than intentions for environmentally sustainable eating. Males and females had similar intentions but males showed substantially higher dietary related health impacts with 12 min of healthy life lost per day and 14% higher carbon footprint than females. Furthermore, vegan and vegetarian diets yielded very high nutritional health benefits of >23 min of healthy life gained per person and day, mostly realized through the reduced intake in processed and red meat and increased consumption of nuts, wholegrain, and to a lesser extent in fruits and vegetables. Meatless diets show concurrent high reductions in the carbon footprint of −42% for vegetarians and −67% for vegan. A key obstacle to healthier and more environmentally sustainable eating is that people do not recognize the high nutritional and environmental co benefits of vegetarian and vegan diets. This suggests that policies promoting healthy eating can target factors affecting intentions, while measures targeting environmentally sustainable eating should aim at overcoming the intention behavior gap, by informing on e.g. the importance of reducing meat consumption toward environmental sustainability.

2022

Why people change their diets: Triggers and facilitators towards healthier and more sustainable eating habits

Ivo Philippe Baur, Ralph Hansmann

To foster healthier and more sustainable eating habits, we need to better understand causes of dietary change on the individual level. This includes differentiating the factors that trigger good versus bad dietary change with regards to health and environmental impacts. The present analysis is based on a household survey with 620 respondents, of which 138 (22%) indicated that they have recently changed their diet. We find that diet changers in general eat worse than the rest of the sample, and also have a higher caloric intake. They are significantly younger, less likely to live in a relationship, and more often experienced critical life-events recently. As main motivations for dietary change, people indicate weight loss and their wish to eat healthier, while reducing environmental burden is rarely indicated as a motivational factor for dietary change. After changing their diet, respondents managed to reduce health and environmental impacts significantly. Further analysis suggests that the main facilitator for healthy and sustainable dietary change are increased sports activities. The factors negatively affecting the health and environmental effects in diet changers are breakups, time constraints relating to job obligations, and frequent restaurant visits. This suggests that having enough time to cook and to eat at home, in combination with increased physical activities facilitate change towards healthier and more sustainable eating habits.

2020

Drivers and Barriers Toward Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Eating in Switzerland: Linking Impacts to Intentions and Practices

Ivo Philippe Baur, Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ralph Hansmann

2022